HERE’S good news for Filipinos going to Norway and Denmark.
Effective Feb. 1, the Norwegian embassy in Manila will charge
lower fees from applicants of Schengen visas and other consular permits.
In an announcement on its website, the embassy said it will
charge P3,600 per application for a transit or tourist Schengen visa, or P400
less than the rates implemented in June 2007.
The Norwegian embassy also accepts and processes consular
documents for Denmark.
Applicants for Norwegian and Danish residence permits, work
permits, and jobseeker/specialist documents will be charged P8,200, down from
P9,000. Family reunification documents will now cost P22,200, or P2,800 less
than the previous rate.
Applications lodged at the Manila embassy require payments in
the form of a manager’s check payable to the "Royal Norwegian Embassy Manila."
The Norwegian consulate in Cebu accepts only cash payments.
An estimated 20,000 Filipinos now live and work in Norway. – Anthony
Ian Cruz
BACOLOD City — The Rivulet Corporation which is allegedly
partly owned by the family of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo has applied for
exemption from coverage by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of its
150-hectare property in Isabela, Negros Occidental, records of the Department of
Agrarian Reform showed.
The reclassification of the 150-hectare property into an
agro-industrial area had been approved previously by the Sangguniang Bayan of
Isabela, records showed.
Region 6 DAR director Alexis Arsenal said the petitioner has
been ordered to submit the needed documents to justify the exemption.
Task Force Mapalad has been calling on DAR to place the said
Arroyo property under CARP.
Arsenal said they need at least five years to complete the
distribution of more than 200,000 hectares of land in Western Visayas, including
90,000 hectares in Negros Occidental where majority of CARP land disputes are
found.
Arsenal said completion of the distribution of lands under CARP will also
depend on the availability of funding, and the resolution of technicalities such
as defects and missing land titles. He said DAR and LandBank should synchronize
their targets as documentation takes a long time to complete. – Gilbert
Bayoran
